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After spending six weeks on the road with the Gang of Outlaws tour with ZZ Top and Gretchen Wilson last spring, you would think 3 Doors Down would want to get back to doing headlining tours of its own.

Instead, the band embarked on a fall co-headlining tour with Daughtry that was so successful, the two rock powerhouses decided to add a second leg to the tour, which comes to the Mohegan Sun Arena Sunday night, Feb. 17.

"It was really cool. It was one of the best tours we've ever done," 3 Doors Down guitarist Chris Henderson said in a recent phone interview from Nashville, Tenn. "Attendance was good and everyone's fans kind of crossed over and it was all received well and everyone got along. I can't complain at all.

"I like the co-headlining thing, because I don't have to stay up late every night," he added, with a laugh. "On the nights (Daughtry) closes, I'm done early. It's awesome."

For Henderson and his bandmates -- singer Brad Arnold, bassist Todd Harrell, guitarist Chet Roberts and drummer Greg Upchurch -- this tour is a dream pairing long in the making between two bands that consistently top the modern rock charts.

"We've been trying to do this for years and years and years, but we could just never really schedule it," Henderson said. "With him being so busy and us being so busy, different things always came up. But we've always kept in touch, we've always been friends.

"So we decided to just ask him again if he wanted to go out and do a co-headlining tour and it just worked out where he was available and we were available and here we are."

While it doesn't have a new album of material to promote, 3 Doors Down did release "The Greatest Hits" in November, which includes nine of their biggest hits -- including such chart-toppers as "Kryptonite," "When I'm Gone" and "It's Not My Time" -- as well as three new songs.

"I think it was time for new music from us," Henderson said. "Our other guitar player just left the band for health reasons and (we didn't want to sit) down with a whole new lineup and try to write 12 new songs and put out a full record. Maybe it wouldn't have worked, maybe it would've worked.

"But I think that, as a band, it was important to get new music out there, and what better way to get new music out there than as part of a greatest-hits record. The label was really supportive of the idea, so it all worked out."

The new tunes are the first recordings with Roberts, who took over for Matt Roberts, no relation.

"It's been great," Henderson said of working with Chet Roberts. "He was my (guitar) tech, so he's been around for four or five years. He plays guitar well, sings. It's all good.

"He had been working at my studio as an engineer and that's how I met him. He plays guitar really well and he knows how to take care of a guitar, so I said, `Why don't you come out and be my guitar tech and tour the world?'

"That worked out for about four years and when this thing with Matt came up, he was there. He already knew all the parts, so that's how he got the gig."

With the latest lineup change behind them, the members of 3 Doors Down can now look to the future, which should include getting to work on a new album.

"We're working on that," Henderson said. "Our thing was to put some new music out with the greatest-hits album, and then start working on a new record.